The rapid advancement of technology and evidence of AI-supported targeting systems already in use on the battlefield are accelerating calls to employ technology in warfare management. The European Union is seeking to spend billions of dollars to build a defensive wall against drones using technology tested in Ukraine. Recent incidents in Denmark, Norway, and Poland involving unknown drones flying over airports have heightened European fears of new airspace breaches, revealing vulnerabilities in European airspace and raising questions about how airports and authorities respond to such incursions.

The EU is racing against time to invest billions of euros in creating a “drone wall” using battlefield-tested technology that offers advanced capabilities to intercept and destroy hostile drones, providing cost-effective solutions to asymmetric threats.

European defense officials see the most urgent phase as improving drone detection capabilities. Recent breaches have proven traditional surveillance systems insufficient, prompting proposals to establish a multi-layered network of advanced sensors, including high-sensitivity radars and devices that capture acoustic signals and radio frequencies, to monitor drone movement patterns. These systems could allow European countries to detect drones before they breach airspace, giving them enough time to take countermeasures.

Incursion

According to the American magazine “Newsweek,” this wall will be ready to detect the slightest hostile incursion, or what is called “unconventional warfare methods” within the alliance’s area of influence, and will provide deterrence and defense using the latest AI technologies supported by a sensor network.

EU defense ministers approved this project in a video conference on Friday.

Analysts believe drones are changing the nature of warfare and will be the dominant weapon on future battlefields. Drones and autonomous aircraft will be guided by AI, and victory will be defined by who has the most machines remaining at the end of the battle.

Security experts in Brussels warned that the “drone wall” could become a modern version of the famous “Maginot Line,” built by France before World War II to repel any potential German invasion but failed after Hitler’s forces bypassed it through the Ardennes forest and Belgium in 1940. The Maginot Line was constructed over 20 years but breached by the Germans in just 4 days.

Maginot Line

The Maginot Line was one of the largest military fortifications in modern history, including fortified bunkers, artillery positions, and minefields along France’s borders with Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium. Despite its size, it did not prevent the German invasion and became a symbol of inflexible defense planning.

Europe today fears that the “drone wall” project could meet the same fate if not accompanied by political and military flexibility capable of addressing new threats. This concern comes after a major cyberattack on an airline check-in and boarding system provider over the weekend, disrupting operations at many of Europe’s busiest airports. Denmark’s reference to a “hybrid attack” added to the confusion amid renewed drone flights over European airspace, with Germany hinting at military intervention to shoot them down. The German Interior Minister has pushed to expand the German army’s powers to counter this threat.

The minister revealed plans to establish a national center specializing in drone technology, linking the German government, states, and military.

Analysts confirm that some alliance countries fear that one wrong move could trigger World War III.